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Elisabeth Lutyens

Born: 1906

Died: 1983

Nationality: British

Publisher: Novello & Co

Determined to be a composer from the age of 9, Elisabeth Lutyens went to
Paris in 1922 to study at the Ècole Normale de Musique in Paris. On her
return to London, she studied composition and the viola at the Royal
College of Music from 1926-30.

Critical of the "overblown" music
of Mahler, Bruckner and Elgar, she collaborated with fellow RCM
students Iris Lemare and Anne MacNaughton to mount a series of modern
music concerts which featured first performances by new composers such
as Benjamin Britten, Alan Rawsthorne and Elizabeth Maconchy.

Lutyens was known and respected as a creative artist for whom compromise
was impossible. She was also a provocative and inspiring teacher who
gave herself unstintingly to her pupils. Her output was large and
varied, and the importance of her contribution to the country's musical
life was recognised in 1969, when she was made a Commander of the
British Empire.